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Travel
Fun with Flying
Mar 6th
So I landed in London this morning basically on time. Took the tram over to Terminal 1 at London Heathrow and found that because of a computer failure, they didn’t have any departure boards working showing the departure times and gates. They were writing them with a sharpie on paper setup on an easel!!! So my coworker and I waited 4 hours for our boarding time and made our way to the most remote gate at LHR – Gate 74, Terminal 1! Upon getting there, we found that the jetbridge had a hydraulic problem and no longer lined up with the boarding door of the plane, so they shuffled us off to a waiting area and kept us posted with useless status updates for ~2 hours before telling us that the plane could not be inspected since they still couldn’t move the jetbridge so they were getting another plane for us…that meant 4 more hours of layover!!! So…the flight is SUPPOSED to leave in another hour and 10 minutes…we’ll see…
Hopefully sometime in the next half a day or so, I will end up in Almaty!
Whoa Nelly!
Oct 25th
No posts since July, so I suppose one is due now…
July went by and we spent some time with Doug and Renee and their kiddos at the lake and at their pool. Was nice and refreshing with the heat this summer.
In August we headed out to the 3rd Annual East Texas Goats Guadalupe River Trip. Most folks camped out, but being late August…in frickin’ Texas, we stayed in the Holiday Inn. We also got to use our new waterproof digital camera for some action shots on the river without having to buy one of those cheesy disposable 35mm water cameras.
September was a busy month. For Labor Day weekend, Tasha had Brandy’s bachelorette party and Lisa’s birthday, for which we met up with Duane, Brandon, Denise and Bryce for a trip to Longhorn Caverns.
Brandy’s wedding shower was later in the month..same day as mom’s birthday and the same day I got to fly back from Colombia into Austin on a Saturday afternoon to catch all the fun. I also got to try out the new slingbox since the UT vs UTEP game was going on while I was traveling back home. Pretty neat technology! 
Check out the pics from Brandy’s shower below…
Late September/early October was pretty busy for me with work travel. Nothing too exciting, just a bunch of short trips. The weekends have been just as busy though. We had the State Fair Car Show and my dad came up to hang with us for the weekend. Tried all sorts of fried foods…fried butter, fried cookie dough, fried pecan pie, sweet jalapeno shrimp corndog, Fletcher’s corny dog, and a Fletcher’s jalapeno cheese corny dog. Got the car all detailed for the car show (thanks to the guys at Stuart’s since I was traveling too much to do it myself), only to have it rain that night! 
The next weekend was Eric and Virginia’s wedding…awesome time, despite the reception place not having the UT vs Colorado game on TV . Seriously, who doesn’t have ESPN?!?!?! I kept everyone up to speed watching the live action via Slingplayer on my phone! Beat that iPhone fanboys! 
We forgot the camera so no pics Beautiful wedding with a nice Texas (UT) flare!!!
The next weekend we headed out to Mexico for Brandy’ss wedding at the Iberostar Grand Paraiso in the Mayan Riviera. We stayed for 8 days and had a blast. Some nights we (I ) can’t fully remember and some days we will NEVER forget! From catching Britney on fire with a flaming shot, to snoring so loud Tasha slept in the huge jacuzi tub, to a day trip for snorkeling and beachside chilling in Akumal with everyone, to a day trip to drive around Cozumel island to enjoy undistrurbed beauty and oceanside drinks and grub, and last but not least, the beautiful oceanfront wedding of Brandy and Todd. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting and hanging with their other friends and family in such a scenic and fun place! We didn’t even have to miss the Texas-OU game thanks to the wonders of Slingbox and free broadband at the resort. It rained most of the day anyways that day, so we didn’t miss too much resort fun! We stayed a bit longer than the rest of the group to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and then headed back home this past Friday. There are a ton of pics posted up, so have a look…
I think that is enough for now. If I think of more later, I will post. To look at the individual pics if you like, head over to the Photo Gallery…
- peeps
Back in the states!
Jul 10th
Back from Colombia today. Not a real adventurous trip (I guess I should wait to say that until after my MIA-DFW flight, but oh well) . Saw more capybaras and some big iquanas about the size of the ones we saw in Cozumel. Bought some Juan Valdez coffee this time to see how it stacks up to the local stuff I bought last time and to the Juan Valdez coffee you can get here. Gotta see if the man and his donkey are worth the hype! There were some crazy thunderstorms in the town we stay in during the nights. I usually sleep though all storms but these ones were quite heavy and had some insane thunder…enough to wake me each night. I have some pics from the flight and the huge hotel room I had in Bogota that I will post later.
-peeps
Cozumel Baby!
Jun 30th
This past week we went to Cozumel for 4 nights and stayed at the Occidental Grand Cozumel. It was just the 2 of us and we had a great time! The weather was mostly good, aside from the raining most of our last full day there. We took a snorkeling tour one day where we got to check out 3 different reefs. The last reef was a deep one and the water way pretty rough. By the time we got back in the boat it was about all I could do to keep from hurling! Next time I will be taking Dramamine for any snorkeling we do!!! 
The resort was a decent place. We would probably stay there again if a smokin’ good deal came up, but it wasn’t so great we would just not consider other places the next time. I mean what kind of Mexican resort doesn’t have a swim-up bar????
Click on the pic to go to the pictures. Enjoy!
- peeps
Seattle…the city that doesn’t let me sleep
Jun 2nd
My flight to Seattle on Sunday was delayed due to mechanical problems. I had already chosen the latest flight from DFW since we were in Austin for the weekend. I was scheduled to arrive in Seattle at 11:15p. After a late arrival of the inbound plane and a mechanical inspection that removed our scheduled aircraft from service, I finally arrive in Seattle by 12:45a. My rental car reservation was canceled due to my flight delay and I waited for 15 minutes for the Hertz rep who had apparently taken a “lunch” break. After getting the car and checking in at the hotel, I settled into my room at about 1:30am. I suspect I got to sleep around 2am for a 6am alarm and 7am breakfast with colleagues and a day of meetings at a jobsite.
The next night I settled into bed around 10pm hoping for a restful night. The alarm was again set for 6am so I could arrive to the jobsite early and get all my work done before catching my afternoon flight. Through the night I think I woke up on average about every 20 minutes!!!! I’m not exactly sure what it was other than maybe a paranoia that I would miss my alarm since all my colleagues were leaving that morning leaving me as the only one heading to the jobsite that day. I managed to get through the day OK but I had to drag myself to the plane…where I am typing this during airplane dinner a questionable cheeseburger…yeah, I dunno either!
I requested an upgrade for the trip home after determining on the flight to Seattle that 4 hours and 20 minutes is beyond my economy seat threshold (yes, even exit row due to the shorter seat length resulting in weird thigh support) when I am tired and trying to sleep on the plane which is normally next to impossible anyways for me. I find the larger comfy seat and the free cocktails and wine in first do the trick to calm me enough for some sleep
On a better note, we went to a place called Salty’s on Monday night for dinner and had some awesome NW food and wine. The weather was amazing!!!
Well enough with my adventures in travel….time for a nap!
-peeps
